


i'd spar another round (but i'm the only one who's still awake)

by matelotage



Category: Stargirl (TV 2020)
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Not Beta Read, Official Team Dad Pat Dugan, Protectiveness, Team Bonding, Worry, anyway the parallel of pat holding a dead starman vs an injured stargirl HURT ME DEEPLY, i have not seen the new ep but i heard its good so !! yay !! anyway watch stargirl, the aftermath of the shiv vs. stargirl fight bc OH BOY, written before the new episode aired so do not expect accuracy lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:01:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25115065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matelotage/pseuds/matelotage
Summary: It's a scene that Pat's all too familiar with.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 47





	i'd spar another round (but i'm the only one who's still awake)

He stumbles onto a worryingly familiar scene, and Pat’s struck with the gut-wrenching thought that he’s been in a moment just like this before.  
He’d been a sidekick long enough to know you never use real names in the field, but all pretense of professionalism was gone as soon as the cosmic staff had purposely sought him out. It didn’t take long for him to imagine every possible worst case scenario as he followed the sentient weapon, but finding Courtney splayed out on the gymnasium floor was so much worse.

Pat cradles the girl delicately, quite nearly on the brink of sobbing in relief when he hears her breath catch slightly at being moved. The cosmic staff hovers around worriedly, anxiously nudging it’s owner in the side every few seconds. It’s an odd thing trying to soothe a glowing cosmic weapon, but Pat tries his best. “She’s gonna be okay, buddy, don’t worry.”

At a glance he can tell Courtney’s definitely in need of a doctor. Frankly, there’s no way any of his emergency first aid kits at the house are going to cut it. But therein lies the problem. He can’t exactly run through the front doors of a hospital with a barely conscious Stargirl.

It’s times like these he misses having a team to back him up.

_Except---_

It’s not ideal, but it’s really the only half-formed idea he can think of in these circumstances. He’s eternally grateful Courtney had the foresight to make sure he’d gotten her new team’s numbers in case there was an emergency.

He shakily reaches for his phone and opens up a new chat message, glancing around the gymnasium to make sure no one else had stumbled upon them. _Hey, it’s Pat. I could really use you guys down here at the school right now. Meet me outside the gymnasium. Could someone bring a change of clothes for Courtney? Nothing fancy, please._

He worded the message carefully on purpose. Hopefully they understood not to show up in costume.

Yolanda replied with lightning speed **_**(** _**_probably because she still needed to hide her burner phone from her parents **)** :_ _I have a sweatshirt and some shorts that should fit her?_

Pat quickly responded with a thumbs up, both Beth and Rick responding they’d be over as soon as they could a few seconds later.

Now was the task of getting her outside without being seen. Pat scooped her up as carefully as he could, but the teen still groaned in pain at being moved without any warning. “Hey, hey, shh. It’s okay, Court.”. While he had spared a minute to make sure there weren’t any immediate life-threatening injuries to deal with, the girl’s mangled hands were a cause for concern. Just _who_ had she gotten in a fight with?

Luckily everyone was much too preoccupied with the game to be lingering around the school building, so there was no one around to see him hide Stargirl behind one of the parked school buses, tucking her against one of the tires out of view.

Pat crouched down beside her, gently peeling her mask off her face. “Courtney, Court, hey. Open your eyes a little for me, alright?” She didn’t necessarily have any head injuries, but he’d rather be safe than sorry.

It brought him back to the days of his mother-henning **_(_** _as Starman had called it **).**_ But there’d been enough times he’d seen the superhero brush off injuries that Stripesy had figured he’d earned the right to be a mother hen. The first time he’d seen dried blood plastered to the back of Sylvester’s head he’d nearly had a stroke.

Over the years Stripesy had ended up with Starman’s blood on his hands more times than he could count. He never knew that fateful Christmas Eve would be the final time.

But that felt like a century ago, and Sylvester wasn’t Courtney.

The sound of voices nearby tore him from his reminiscing, but he immediately relaxed when Yolanda, Rick, and Beth came into view.

He was quickly flanked by all three teenagers, all of them crouching down to get a look at their injured friend. If Courtney was aware that they were there, she didn’t show it.

“Oh no, what happened?” Beth exclaimed a little too loudly, while Rick muttered a curse as they all got a closer look at their leader. Yolanda reached for the duffel bag over her shoulder, pulling out a pink sweatshirt and running shorts, eyes never leaving Courtney’s still form.

Ever grateful for the fact Courtney had found herself some really good friends, he sighed heavily, trying to keep his explanation brief. “I think she found a lead on some Injustice Society business. One of them must have confronted her here in the school. She needs a hospital and we can’t bring her in there like this.”

They all nodded gravely, Yolanda the first to break the silence. “Me and Beth can make sure she’s out of her hero suit. I can hide it at my place for the time being.” Sensing it was being ignored, the cosmic staff glided over to the girl, impatiently tapping her shoulder. "Uh, the staff can come with me too. As long as it lays _low._ " Right on cue, the light emanating off the weapon diminished slightly.

Rick chimed in. “So what's our cover story? You know somebody’s gonna ask questions.”

Beth tapped a finger to her goggles, small smile forming as she listened to her AI. “Chuck suggested that we should keep our cover story vague, but throw enough little details in that it’s believable. If we say Courtney came to hang out with Rick and I, we can tell people there was a random masked attacker. It’s dark out, so we can always say we didn’t get a good look at them.”

She shot a glance towards Wildcat. “Plus that’d give Yolanda plenty of time to go home and hide the Stargirl suit.”

Rick nodded. “If the town’s keeping an eye out for a suspicious attacker, that might send the Injustice Society back into whatever hole they crawled out of in the first place. It’ll be a lot harder to be shady with every neighborhood watch group working overtime.”

As far as plans went it wasn’t foolproof, but it was really the only plan they had.

The girls set to work immediately, moving to either side of the half-conscious superhero. They both slung Courtney's arms over both their shoulders like it was a natural thing for them to have to show up on a school night and bail an injured friend out of a bad situation.

Pat couldn't help the pang of guilt, the fact that he got them involved in something risky like this yet again. It didn't help that his daughter was hurt. He trusted them all, he did, but leaving Courtney alone felt wrong.

But then again, he _wasn't_ leaving her alone.

Yolanda stood straighter, voice strong. “Go on, Pat. We’ll handle this.”

* * *

  


It felt weird returning to the stadium stands like nothing happened, but pretending to be unaware of what was going on just so happened to be part of the plan too. He slid into his previously abandoned seat next to his son, offering a plate of nachos he’d grabbed from the concession stand on his way back. “Sorry, bud, would’ve been back sooner, but the line was insane.” Max rolled his eyes, but took the small plate of chips with a pleased nod.

There was the sound of sirens in the distance, which meant Rick had done his part and stayed with Courtney while he called an ambulance.

Moments later, Beth came running down the rows of bleachers. There was a very believable look of panic on her face, and that alone was certainly getting people's attention. If anything, this part of the plan was going to go off without a hitch.

“Mr. Dugan, come quick! Something’s happened to Courtney!”

* * *

  


**Author's Note:**

> fic title taken from say when by dessa
> 
> so i'm not happy with how this turned out but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ it be like that sometimes.
> 
> anyway. protect the new jsa kids.


End file.
